BEC - one of my original Aussie friends.  Bec lives in Adelaide, but she came to Melbourne at the start of my trip because her footy team were in the grand final (and WON! Yay!) so I got to meet her.  Which was great.

BRI, BEE, FREEDS, BELLA - my other "Original Aussies", who I didn't get to meet due to one thing or another.

MEL, CHLOE, BROOKE, ALLY, ELISE - some very cool friends that I made coz Trisi knows them coz of Rob stuff.  T'was lovely to meet them all!

NICA - National Institute of Circus Arts.  It runs a 3yr degree course as well as short courses.  Trisi did 3 night classes a week.  I couldn't afford that so instead I just did a one week intensive course, where I went 5 nights a week, for 2 hours a night, and had a go at everything. It was great fun!

CIRCUS BOYS - we made friends with lots of the guys from the degree course at NICA, because we saw them when we went for Trisi's classes, and we always ended up in the way because we had a habit of sitting in front of their lockers.  They were all great.

COMEDY BOYS - during the Melbourne Comedy Festival we made friends with many, many of the comedians, without actually trying.  They're all great too.

RONALD - McDonald.  He may be a scary-looking clown, but you gotta admit he's cool.  Especially when he's carrying such a massive bucket of fries!

CAZZ - one of the very first Joinees, Cazz lived in Melbourne and so we'd occasionally swap Hurrah's that I was going there, and planned to meet up and do Random Acts of Kindness together or whatever.  However, she became very ill just before I travelled out there, was in hospital for the majority of the time I was in Melbourne.  Trisi and I visited her there one day, and we had a great time.  Cazz was an amazing and inspiring girl.  She died in November 2005, but will never be forgotten.

THE STREETIES - we got to know some street performers that worked in Melbourne... they were good fun!  We had some good times down at the pitch.

WOODY, STEVE - two guys from the Newcastle forum who live in Melbourne, so I met up with them.  I met Woody a couple of times and had good fun, he's a nice guy.  I met Steve once and scared the hell outta him for most of the time.  He looks like Toadie. (love you really Steve!)

ROB - Rob's great. He started off as a pub singer and then he went on the first Australian Idol and came 5th!  He went on tour with his band last year, and this year he's been filming a TV show for Aussie TV.  He's a really great guy, I've chatted with him a few times and he's just really really lovely.  My trip to Australia would have been nowhere near as cool if it wasn't for Mr Mills!

BROOK, NEIL, BO, DAYNE - The members of Rob's band.  Brook was also in Sector7G, the band I used to see on Sundays.  Neil is English.  Bo seemed a bit scared of me.  Dayne's really cool. 

ADAM and ANTH- the other members of Sector7G.  Adam (or "Adsy") is adorable ("adamorable") and such a little kid at times, he loved messing around during songs and keeping us amused.  Anth's great and always humoured our insanity, whether that be hitting sticks, calling him Steve, or just winding up Brook and blatantly loving Adsy. 

TIM and PAUL - they're brothers, and have an acoustic band called 6am Headspin.  We'd sometimes go and see them on Friday nights if we had time.  They're both really lovely guys.

BILL and PHIL - Rob's Mum and Step-Dad.  They're both absolutely LOVELY.  Had a great couple of hours at their place in Sydney, I don't think we stopped laughing the whole time.  And Phil's an absolute lifesaver for helping us out.

POSSUMS - Surprisingly rat-like creatures.  I think I'm the only person in Australia who loves possums.  But you just have to really, don't you?  Because.. well... they're POSSUMS!! I should probably learn not to scream "POSSUM!!!!!" and wave my arms in the air with glee when I see one when I'm in public though.... *insert sheepish look here*

CLIVE - this is the name we have given to the old man who is making funny faces in the sample passport photos on the "soccer" photo booth.  I don't know what soccer photos are.. but if you need them, then Melbourne Central is the place to go.

BLINKY - Blinky Bill is a Koala (at first I thought he was a mouse, then I remembered that I was in Australia).  I often sit and chat to him in his car while we're waiting at Box Hill for a train home, after we've been out to eat there.  "What are you doing now Blinky?" - "Na-thing mam!"  I get some funny looks by passers by as I sit there, squished into his little car, arm around his neck, talking to him about the world.  He's a good listener.

ROGER - the original Roger belonged to Rob and band.  Roger II belonged to us.  Roger III is, as I speak, only a dream in the pipeline.  Rogers are, by definition, big pineapples that wear sunglasses.

DOOGS - Rob's roadie.  He's a legend.  Mainly because his name is Dougal.  But I guess also because he gave us the stools from Rob's tour that they sat on during a couple of songs in every gig.  But yeah, it's mainly the name thing.

THE COW - is upside down in a tree.  Legendary artwork.  Legendary.

BONZO - mine and Trisi's imaginary pet monkey.  We have loud and in-depth conversations about Bonzo's antics when we're on the train, in order to provide our fellow passengers with an interesting journey.  Bonzo doesn't like pineapples, but looks very cute when wearing the little outfit we got from him at www.monkey.com, and he gets on surprisingly peacefully with my new tank of electric eels which arrived on Tuesday... we thought he'd cause problems, but he just likes sitting looking through the glass, watching them swim.  He's easily pleased. But then the other day, he decided to tap on the glass and........... (and on it goes...)

BAND IN A BUBBLE - This was a reality TV thing that was taking place in the centre of Melbourne when I arrived.  A band, a technical musicy producer type dude and a TV presenter were put into a "bubble" (a big glass box) in order to record a few songs for the band's new album, while being on TV 24/7 and being watched constantly through the glass from outside.  It was absolutely awesome... especially coz if you were bored for a bit, or had nothing to do, you'd just go and sit outside the Bubble and watch.  Marvellous!

ANDREW G - a very pretty, very friendly TV presenter.  And I met him when the Bubble 'burst' and the guys were let out.  Yay!!  He presents Aussie Idol, among other things.  He was born in England too.